A stabbing on Interstate 476 in Lower Merion Township on Sunday, Sept. 6, triggered a 41-minute lockdown at Villanova University as police searched for an armed suspect along Lancaster Avenue.

The campus alert system, called NOVA Alert, first notified students at 5:56 p.m. to shelter in place. By 6:10 p.m., the university escalated to a full lockdown after police warned the suspect was armed and dangerous. All bus and shuttle services were suspended.

As we reported Sept. 7, the incident began around 5:30 p.m. when a U-Haul rear-ended a Mercedes on the southbound I-476 ramp. Several men from the U-Haul and other vehicles assaulted the Mercedes driver, and one stabbed the victim in the abdomen, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The suspects fled. Pennsylvania State Police and Lower Merion Police pursued the U-Haul, NBC10 Philadelphia reported. During the chase, a Lower Merion officer crashed at Pennswood Road and Montgomery Avenue. Authorities told KYW Newsradio the officer was not injured.

Police spotted the U-Haul at a Sunoco gas station on Lancaster Avenue. The suspects abandoned the truck and ran. Officers received reports that at least one suspect carried a gun and a knife, prompting the Villanova lockdown.

The second NOVA Alert, issued at 6:10 p.m., warned that police were searching near County Line Road and Lancaster Avenue for the stabbing suspect. Students in the Bryn Mawr Villas, an off-campus housing area known as "Props," were told to use extra caution because the search was focused near Airdale Road and Lancaster Avenue, according to The Villanovan, the campus newspaper.

Pennsylvania State Police and assisting agencies surrounded the U-Haul at Lancaster Avenue and County Line Road in Rosemont and took one suspect into custody, FOX 29 reported. Police said the suspect dropped a knife nearby. A second man was arrested at nearby Austin Memorial Park.

The all-clear came at 6:41 p.m.

Bryn Mawr Hospital also went into lockdown during the incident, FOX 29 reported. Both lockdowns were lifted after the two men were taken into custody.

Debra Patch, Villanova's deputy chief of police and associate director of public safety, wrote in an email to the campus community Sunday evening that the stabbing did not occur on campus and did not involve university community members. The university followed guidance from local authorities in ordering the lockdown, Patch wrote.

Delvin Welch, a neighbor near the Rosemont arrest scene, told FOX 29: "It's terrifying to hear something like that, especially so close to where you live."

The stabbing victim was taken to Lankenau Medical Center, Patch reported. The victim's condition had not been disclosed as of Monday, Sept. 7. Police had not released the suspects' identities or announced formal charges.

Pennsylvania State Police's Philadelphia Station Criminal Investigation Unit is handling the case. Anyone with information can call 215-452-5216 and reference incident number PA2026-1146481.